


How Dark the Road Seems

by still_lycoris



Category: X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) - Fandom, X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, M/M, Seduction to the Dark Side, Trick or Treat 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-27 22:44:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8420047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/still_lycoris/pseuds/still_lycoris
Summary: It's 1972 and all Hank is focused on is trying to help Charles get through each day. But something dark has woken early and Hank is not prepared for what is coming ...





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Etnoe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etnoe/gifts).



> I read your letter and loved it, couldn't not try to treat - in a tricksy way. I hope I've managed to give you some of the stuff you wanted!

Hank was trying to tidy Charles’s study when he realised that something was wrong.

He was used to things being wrong. They always were these days, had been since the school had finally closed and Charles had all but given up on life. But this was different, this was a _feeling_ , a prickle of energy on the back of his neck, something that made his beastly side surge within him. Putting down the bottle that he had been holding, he hurried straight to Charles’s room, fighting the urge to transform as he did. He was being ridiculous, of course he was and yet at the same time, he couldn’t shake it off, he couldn’t stop feeling this and he just needed to see ...

He was almost at the door when he heard a crash and Charles’s raised voice.

“How _dare_ you come back here?!”

Now Hank did let himself transform. He threw the door open and saw Erik, Erik in _armour_ of all things, standing and staring at Charles with an expression of shock on his face, probably because Charles was standing and possibly because it was quite clear that Charles had just thrown a whisky glass at Erik’s head. There were others with him, people Hank did not know and right now, people he did not care about. He snarled, warning them to keep their distance, ready to leap if Charles gave him the word. They didn’t need this. Not now. Not Erik.

Charles clearly agreed.

“Get out!” he was snarling at Erik. “I don’t want you here! You should be in that prison, where you belong!”

“Charles, please – ” Erik began, then stopped when one of the figures next to him raised a hand.

The man was clearly a mutant – his skin was blue and he wore strange armour with symbols all over it that Hank vaguely thought might be Egyptian. His eyes were fixed unblinkingly on Charles and there was something about him that made Hank feel strange. The man was not tall and yet he seemed to take up more space than everybody else in the room. Power radiated from him in a way that Hank found unsettling.

“I don’t want you here!” Charles hissed, apparently unconcerned by any of this. “I don’t want you or any of your friends for that matter so you can just make yourself a pretty bubble again and fuck off!”

“My child, why have you done this to yourself?”

The man spoke softly and yet something about his tone was compelling. Hank found himself wanting to go quieter, to listen to it and the odd cadences of it. And yet, at the same time, it sent a shiver down his spine. He didn’t like this man at all and not just because he’d brought Erik back into their lives. There was something wrong here. He growled softly, trying to alert Charles to it but Charles didn’t look at him. He was staring at the man, his expression confused.

“I haven’t done anything,” he said, sounding a little uncertain.

“You have drugged yourself. Trapped yourself in this ... shell. You should be so much more.”

Hank wondered how this mutant knew about the serum. No one except he and Charles knew about the serum, certainly not that it dampened Charles’s abilities to nothing. Was this mutant a telepath too?

Charles was trying to keep his angry expression fixed on his face but Hank could see the all too familiar pain and despair that was beginning to overtake him. He wanted to step forward but he felt oddly frozen. He wasn’t sure which way to turn, what to do.

“You don’t understand,” Charles said. “You don’t ... just who _are_ you?”

“I am En Sabah Nur. And I do understand. I can help you, Charles Xavier. I can make it right. I will free you from this pain.”

Hank saw Charles swallow. Saw him take a slightly uncertain step forward.

“Charles – ”

“Be quiet, Hank,” Erik said. He was watching too and there was a look of hunger on his face that Hank didn’t like at all. Charles didn’t seem to have noticed. He was staring at En Sabah Nur still, almost longingly but when he spoke, his voice was still aggressive.

“Oh yes? You’re just going to solve everything, are you? You’re just going to make everything _he_ did to me go away? You’re going to make the voices stop hurting me?”

“Trust me,” En Sabah Nur whispered. He was standing right in front of Charles now and reached out a hand, touching Charles’s cheek. Hank could _smell_ something wrong, could _feel_ it rippling in the air. His fur was standing on end, everything was bad.

“Charles, no!”

He tried to step forward but Erik moved his hand and Hank felt metal whip around him, holding him in place. He snarled and thrashed, trying to buck loose but the metal just tightened, trapping him. Charles didn’t even look around. He was staring, almost mesmerised, into En Sabah Nur’s face. En Sabah Nur stroked his cheek, then pressed his lips against Charles’s in a delicate, almost sexless kiss.

Charles gave a soft cry and arched his back, leaning into the kiss. He reached up, clinging to En Sabah Nur’s arms with a wild sort of cry. En Sabah Nur reached with his other hand, catching Charles as his legs suddenly crumpled beneath him. Hank saw a strange trickle of liquid run through En Sabah Nur’s fingers to pool on the floor and it took him a moment to work out what it was.

The serum. En Sabah Nur had cleared the serum from Charles’s system with one swoop of his power. And now he had filled Charles with something else.

“Oh,” Charles said and he sounded _blissful_. “ _Oh ..._ ”

As Hank watched, his eyes briefly turned horrifyingly black, clearly blind to everything except whatever En Sabah Nur was showing him. He gave a small gasping noise, his fingers flexing on En Sabah Nur’s arms.

“You see?” En Sabah Nur murmured. “You see, my child?”

“It’s _wonderful_ ,” Charles breathed. “Oh, it’s wonderful, I can feel _everything_ and it doesn’t hurt!”

“Charles,” Hank whispered. “Charles ... what have you done to him?!”

“I have opened his mind,” En Sabah Nur said. He looked at Hank then and Hank felt pinned by the dark gaze. “I have opened his soul, given him power that he could never experience without me and I have helped him find his way.”

“It’s wonderful, Hank,” Charles said. “Don’t be so sad. It’s wonderful. I feel so much _better_.”

Hank didn’t know what to say. He felt cold and afraid. He didn’t understand what was happening but he didn’t like it at all. Erik finally released him and he bounded to Charles’s side. Charles was still all but lying in En Sabah Nur’s arms, smiling beatifically up at him. When Hank reached out to touch his shoulder, he turned and looked at Hank with a stare that was uncomfortably intense. His eyes were all wrong, glittering, shining with a light that wasn’t his.

“It’s beautiful. Hank. Oh, it’s so beautiful. I was looking at them wrong before, I was too close but now, now there’s so many that they’re just glittering points of light and I can help them, I’ve got the power to help all of them ...”

“Charles ... ”

“No, don’t be scared. Don’t be scared, darling. En Sabah Nur is going to change things. It’s going to be better and I won’t have to hurt again and neither will you.”

Hank looked at En Sabah Nur. The mutant stared back at him, lips curved in a smile that was oddly kind. Standing so close to him was strange, confusing. Hank wanted to be angry with him because he knew, he _knew_ that this man had done something terrible to Charles and yet it was hard to believe that because he seemed so ... inoffensive. So gentle. Something about him reminded Hank of Charles, of who Charles had once been before he’d become sick.

“Do not fear me,” En Sabah Nur said softly. “I will not harm you, Henry McCoy. You care for Charles, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Hank said because he did and there was no point pretending otherwise.

“Good,” En Sabah Nur said and there was pleasure in his voice. “You have taken care of him, haven’t you? Looked after him when there was no one. Will you look after him now, Beast? Will you be his legs? Will you protect him when he cannot protect himself? He will need you when we change this world for my children. We are going to make everything better for them, just as you and Charles always wanted.”

Hank felt as though the world was very far away. He didn’t seem able to look away from En Sabah Nur’s eyes. They were so dark, depthless. Hank felt as though he could see the universe there, something huge and expansive that was pulling him in, encouraging him to believe. There was something wrong here, there was and he was afraid but how could he possibly say no? Charles needed him and he took care of Charles, it was just what he did. 

“You will not refuse, will you, my Beast?” En Sabah Nur said softly. “You will stand at our side? We would be honoured to have you with us, in the place that you belong.”

He touched his fingers to Hank’s cheek, brushing them through the fur. His hand was confusingly warm. His words seemed to be in Hank’s head. Hank wasn’t sure what was right any more. He didn’t want this, did he? He didn’t want to have anything to do with Erik or Erik’s friends ... but Charles, he couldn’t abandon Charles and En Sabah Nur was looking at him, En Sabah Nur wanted him and it was so good to be wanted. No one but Charles had ever really wanted him before, not like this. And they had wanted to change things, that was true and if they _could_ change things ...

“So _strong_ ,” En Sabah Nur murmured. “You will serve us all well, Beast.”

He gently pushed Charles into Hank’s arms. Hank caught him automatically, lifting as Charles leaned against his shoulder. Charles’s eyes were still dreamy and he was staring at En Sabah Nur as though the other man was a God. He would clearly follow him.

How could Hank do anything different?

“Come,” En Sabah Nur ordered, turning away.

So Hank followed.


End file.
